ARMOUR US: Monitoring Android Zero-permission Sensor Usage From User Space
Yan Long
1
Tobias Alam
3
Jiancong Cui
1
Zhiqiang Lin
2
Yuqing Yang
2
Kevin Fu
1
All Sensor Usage
Any Sensor Usage
None Sensor Usage
Accelerometer
Gyroscope
Magnetometer
Reverse
Ascending ⬆
Zero-permission
Sensor Usage
by Different Categories
Android-Wear
has the lowest
Accelerometer Sensor Usage
Ratio
0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
1
font-weight="bold"
Ratio
Android-Wear
Communication
Business
Libraries/Demo
Medical
Auto/Vehicles
Productivity
Events
Food/Drink
Sports
House/Home
Tools
Lifestyle
Video-Players/Editors
Maps/Navigation
Comics
Shopping
Beauty
Parenting
Social
Travel/Local
Weather
Music/Audio
Health/Fitness
Entertainment
Education
News/Magazines
Books/Reference
Photography
Dating
Personalization
Family
Art/Design
Finance
Games
Category
Installation
ForeGround
BackGround
Force Stop
Uninstallation
Accelerometer Threshold:
Gyroscope Threshold:
Magnetometer Threshold:
🔼 Increase
⚪ Unchanged
🔽 Decrease
Frequency Distribution of Zero-Permission Sensor Usage
Third-Party Apps Exhibit Consistent Usage Patterns of Zero-Permission Sensors
Sensor Usage Changes At Various Runtime Region Transitions
Sensor Usage Peaks at INSTL2FG, Then Declines Toward STOP
Accelerometer
Gyroscope
Magnetometer
font-weight="bold"
Sensor
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
Frequency (Hz)
🔼
🔽
⚪
🔽
⚪
🔽
🔼
🔽
⚪
🔽
⚪
🔽
🔼
🔽
⚪
🔽
⚪
🔽
INSTL2FG
FG2BG
BG2STOP
STOP2RM
Runtime Stage
Per-App Sensor Usage Details on
Android-Wear
Apps Tend to Co-Activate Multiple Sensors in a Synchronized Manner
Accelerometer
Gyroscope
Magnetometer
font-weight="bold"
Sensor
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
0
40
80
120
160
200
INSTL
ForeGround
BackGround
STOP
RM
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
0
40
80
120
160
200
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
0
20
40
60
80
100
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
0
10
20
30
40
50
INSTL
ForeGround
BackGround
STOP
RM
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
0
10
20
30
40
50
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
0
10
20
30
40
50
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
0
4
8
12
16
20
INSTL
ForeGround
BackGround
STOP
RM
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
0
1
2
3
4
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
0
0.4
0.8
1.2
1.6
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
0
10
20
30
40
50
INSTL
ForeGround
BackGround
STOP
RM
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
0
10
20
30
40
50
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
0
10
20
30
40
50
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
0
4
8
12
16
20
INSTL
ForeGround
BackGround
STOP
RM
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
0
1
2
3
4
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
50
0
0.4
0.8
1.2
1.6
#10 iHeart
#15 CallApp
#41 I am
#43 Fitbod
#45 Vocabulary
APP Name